“If you do something and don’t tell anyone about it” feels like the marketing equivalent of “If a tree falls in the forest, but nobody is around to hear it.” Either way, you don’t really know if it happened. With over 50 million new websites launched each year and 20,000+ new products introduced each month…
I teach a cardio-kickboxing class on Tuesdays, and there’s one member who often wears a t-shirt that says “# 1 Grandma!” I’ve joked with her, asking if she’s coming to learn new discipline tactics (always adding, “seriously, folks, don’t try this at home!”) So it’s not like the image in the Simply Potatoes ad above…
I was taking a trip recently to a city where I’d heard an old friend (Maureen Popkin Chiquet) from middle school had settled, so I looked her up. Turns out she’s the Global CEO for Chanel and was Glamour magazine’s Fashion Woman of the year in 2008. Oohh…so women DO actually work and hold down careers! I’d…
I definitely smoked Virginia Slims when I smoked 30 years ago. But who wouldn’t want to be that tall, thin, confident, brave, free-spirited, adventurous woman who didn’t take sh— from anybody. Sign me up! Without even inviting me to a focus group tobacco companies have taken note, creating advertising targeted at women in third world…
What does this American Airlines’ ad have in common with the movie Monsters, Inc? Both envision a workplace with no women in it. Oh, wait, there was the young ‘un wanting to get married and the tough old broad in Monsters, Inc.—the same two archetypes in “The Absent Minded Professor” and probably most other movies…
Can you be a chicken and still be a good intercultural communicator?* The short answer is “no.” I was having an amazing conversation today (or as I said, let’s talk about something really interesting, let’s talk about me!”) with Marti Barletta of Trendsight today. Marti is the premier provider of ‘marketing to women’ insights and ideas,…
It’s funny that after presenting a workshop on communication styles, I’m obsessing about my communication style. I think it’s because I’m more aware now that I’m an “emotive-intuitive” communicator (I speak passionately about things I believe in and like to throw out big ideas as they come to me) and the “norm” for the business…
When I first caught a glimpse of an ad on TV of Mother Nature trying to wake up someone who was sleeping, I thought it type-cast women with an out of date image: Women can’t do anything when their “little gift” comes each month. Seeing the vibrant Serena Williams, who is African-American, perfect as a dynamic,…
My problem with representations of women in advertising is not that they’re beautiful, nor, given my delight with this ad, that they’re scantily clad. Apparently it’s more of a “boys against girls” mentality. I like this ad because, basically, the girl “wins.” She’s smarter, stronger, slyer, and ‘wins,’ while teaching the boys a thing or…
I’m always quick to jump on images OF women in media, but here is a great series on breaking down ads targeted to women. In this critique of yogurt ads, feminist and comedian Sarah Haskins highlights every stereotype of women’s desires/habits possible, from dieting to shopping to shoes. If you already knew Sarah Haskins…why didn’t you…
